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After spending the past few years overseas, incredibly far from where she grew up, Sohyun Hong will be graduating from WSU and returning to her home country, South Korea, with a degree in fine arts.

Hong, 24, said she started developing a passion for fine arts at a young age, when her father bought a camera. He later gave it to her as an elementary school graduation present.

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking about being an artist. I just liked taking photos,” she said. “I was in high school [when I started to take it more seriously], and now I really want to be an artist.”

Hong came to WSU as a junior. She said she had applied to several American universities while preparing to study abroad. In the end, she chose WSU because of the opportunities the university offers to fine arts students and others with artistic majors.

“Also, it’s close to Seattle,” she said, “which I know has a great art community.”

Hong attended high school in a small town in Michigan. She said the lack of racial diversity there made her feel like an outsider.

“Here, there’s so much diversity,” she said, “so I didn’t really feel any racism or any other bad things.”

Hong said she has made many American friends at WSU.

After graduation, she plans to return to South Korea and hopes to continue her studies at graduate school.

“I’m planning to … study more about ceramics,” she said, “because I know I still have a lack of skills and it’s really fun to study.”

She also plans to compete in international ceramics competitions, which are held in South Korea and Japan, while working full-time as a professional artist.